Inquests and inquiries into the deaths of vulnerable First Nations people, including women and girls, repeatedly emphasized that recognizing First Nations jurisdiction is essential for keeping people safe.

By Laurie Carr Contributor

The Toronto Star: Lately, our neighbouring communities have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons: overdoses, homelessness and crime. While we have been working diligently to prevent the same crises in our community, Hiawatha First Nation, Premier Doug Ford’s directive to police stating that the enforcement of First Nations bylaws is not mandatory has thrown wrench in our plans.

First Nations bylaws play a crucial role in keeping our community’s safe by allowing us to address the unique realities we face, drawing from both our traditional natural laws and western laws. These bylaws allow us to keep drug dealers at bay using trespassing laws and to help nondangerous offenders break free from destructive cycles and reintegrate into the community.

We firmly believe Ontario could learn from us about how to deal with issues they’re experiencing now but we’ve seen before.

Instead of collaborating with us for the safety and benefit of our citizens, Ontario is moving forward with the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA), which does not mandate the enforcement of First Nations bylaws as a part of “safe and adequate” policing.

This is a change from precedent, where our bylaws were recognized by Ontario and by Canada in the Indian Act, leaves our community in a more vulnerable position at a time when crisis is escalating around us.

We have every reason to believe that the CSPA will result in harm to our citizens. Inquests and inquiries into the deaths of vulnerable First Nations people, including women and girls, repeatedly emphasized that recognizing First Nations jurisdiction is essential for keeping people safe.

Our laws are preventative and focus on the community collaboration for the good of everyone. Relying solely on provincial laws has led us into the very situation that prompted the inquests and inquiries in the first place.

We want to be clear: we have an outstanding relationship with the Ontario Provincial Police. We do not want Ontario to get in the way of that relationship, which is precisely what the CSPA will do. We also fundamentally agree with Premier Ford that community safety is essential and policing needs modernization to address modern challenges. However, the CSPA does not adequately address the need for communities like Hiawatha.

The solution is clear: Ontario can pass a simple regulation under the CSPA recognizing our bylaws. We hope they do because we want our community to make headlines for a different reason: to demonstrate to our neighbours that it is possible to confront the challenges plaguing communities in Ontario and that we have a viable road map.

Laurie Carr is chief of Hiawatha First Nation.